The Directional Scanner
Directional Scanner or D-Scan is a very handy tool that most people overlook when they first start playing eve. You do not have to have any skills to use it and with a little practice you can find out where other players are located and find probes and bubbles that are near you and other valuable information.
To start using the Directional Scanner you click the scanner button on your HUD or press ALT+D and bring up the menu, make sure your on the directional scanner tab to begin. You will notice that there are three controls a check box to use active overview settings, field box to set range and a slider to change angle of the scan. There is also a button named Scan that will preform the scan. |
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The Controls
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Map Browser
Another tool that can help with D-scan is the Mapbrowser to open the map browser right click the lined box next to the system name and select Show in Mapbrowser this will pull up a side panel it has four parts. At the top it will have Universe, region, constellation and finally the system you are in.
The part that is most helpful will be the bottom box the System window this shows your current location in the system and also which way you have the camera facing this can give you a better idea on where you are scanning at lower angles. Your screen should look similar to this when you have D-scan and the Mapbrowser open.
(click on image to view larger version)
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Finding what you are looking for Before you start your scan you will want to set a few things first. Depending on what you are looking for you can set the D-scan to only show those items by using the Active Overview Settings option. Selecting the correct overview for the job is key here. If you are looking for enemy ships you can use a PvP profile to only show those ships on D-scan. To make it easier to find targets at Celestials you can enable brackets on your overview so you can see celestials in space. This can make it easier to pinpoint locations as well. To enable Brackets right click the overview select load bracket Profile and Select a Profile that will show celestials, I have a Wormhole Profile that will show everything in space. If you do not know how to make Overview Profiles check out the Overview Guide.
When you are looking for a target you can start with max distance and max angle to see if they are within the range of your directional scanner. Once you see them on scan you can then begin to narrow down the search. You will start by reducing the angle to 180 to further narrow down their position, do this until you have them in a 30 degree cone in front of you which will be enough to find them if they are located at or near a celestial. If there are multiple celestial you can change the distance of the range to get a more precise location of your target. You can use the same method to find people in safe spots as well it will take a bit longer and will require you to warp and save locations between celestials but you will eventually have them on grid. With practice this can be a valuable asset for any capsuler. The best way to practice this would be to find a system with a high population and practice finding people doing missions, mining or have a friend hide at |
Enable Brackets
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Some Helpful Info
Ranges.
2,147,483,647 km = 14.35 AU 1447,483,647 km = ~ 10 AU 747,483,647 km = ~ 5 AU *Remove the last digit for 2,147,483,64 km = 1.435 au |
To help line the camera up with celestials hold down the alt-key. (this shows a box around your ship) |